South Korea’s SK Telecom opens era of 100 Mbps wireless data speeds

SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM), a South Korean wireless telecommunications operator, announced the successful development of Heterogeneous Network Integration Solution, which enables simultaneous use of different types of networks including 3G, LTE and Wi-Fi to ensure high-speed data service of up to 100 Mbps.

“SK Telecom will provide customers with a data service of much greater speed with Heterogeneous Network Integration Solution, which represents one of the company’s world’s top-level network operation technologies,” said Byun Jae-Woan, chief technology officer of SK Telecom.

The technology, which the company says is the first of its kind in the world, is capable of seamlessly integrating two heterogeneous networks — such as 3G and Wi-Fi, or LTE and Wi-Fi — to provide a data service, the speed of which is the sum of two network speeds.

“Developing a technology that allows simultaneous use of two networks of different technology specification and frequency band have long been an interest of mobile carriers as they face limited radio resources. SK Telecom marks the first in the world to independently develop the core technology,” the company said. “For instance, for high-quality video streaming service users, Heterogeneous Network Integration Solution will reduce video loading time by more than 50% and eliminate buffering during video streams. Moreover, customers will gain Wi-Fi access automatically upon entering a Wi-Fi zone, which removes the need for them to search for Wi-Fi availability at each and every location.”

The company plans to apply this solution to enable simultaneous use of 3G and Wi-Fi networks in the second quarter of 2012 to realize a theoretical maximum speed of 60 Mbps service. It also plans to begin LTE and Wi-Fi integrated service in 2013 to offer a 100 Mbps ultra-high speed wireless Internet service.

“By realizing the speed of fixed-line services with wireless networks, SK Telecom will allow its customers to experience a new and innovative mobile life,” Byun Jae-Woan added.

SK Telecom also informed that it plans to launch a smartphone based on this solution during this year and expects to apply the technology to all handsets to be launched in 2013 after analyzing the consumer response and data distribution effect.

The company expects that the solution will help improve the overall 3G data communication environment for users as it resolves data traffic issues of 3G and LTE networks by increasing the use of Wi-Fi networks.